Golden State Raceway (Santa Maria)

Santa Maria’s first strip was on what is now West Foster Road. In 1969 it moved north and west to an unused runway of Santa Maria Airport, at what is now about 4000 South Blosser Road, and was renamed Golden State Raceway. The airport then covered much more of the huge World War II military airfield than it does today. The strip was listed at 4,000 feet long and 300 feet wide. Sponsored by the Santa Maria Valley Jaycees, it raced one Sunday a month under NHRA sanction. Everything but blown fuel cars could run, though in the 1970s the focus was bracket and grudge racing. The first big race at the new site was an NHRA points meet with a $1,000 purse on April 13, 1969, featuring the NHRA factory super stock circuit with racers such as Bob Lambeck, Dick Wood, Ed Terry, Tommy Johnson, Walt Zeishe, Hubert Platt and Shirley Shahan. At a 129-entry meet on June 22, 1969, Roger Gates of Reseda took top eliminator and set a track record of 7.50 at 191.08 mph in his AA/D, and Dale Pulde set the B/FD mark of 7.89 at 178.57 in his DeSoto-powered “Sysperilla Sisters” dragster. Most Septembers brought a two-day event for junior fuel dragsters, gas dragsters and pro stockers. The Santa Maria Chamber of Commerce pulled its support in 1976, a sign of the end, and the last race was in March 1978. A mobile home park now covers the site.